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Taylor, Charles Ghankay

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Charles Ghankay, 1948–, Liberian rebel and political leader. Taylor attended college in America and became a leader among Liberians there, mounting demonstrations against President William T...

Minnesota, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Minnesota mĭnˌĭsōˈtə [key], upper midwestern state of the United States. It is bordered by Lake Superior and Wisconsin (E), Iowa (S), South Dakota and North Dakota (W), and the Canadian p...

Huston, John

(Encyclopedia)Huston, John hyo͞osˈtən [key], 1906–87, American motion picture director, writer, and actor, b. Nevada, Mo. In many of his films, such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Moby Dick (19...

Martínez Sierra, Gregorio

(Encyclopedia)Martínez Sierra, Gregorio grāgōˈrēō märtēˈnĕth syāˈrä [key], 1881–1947, Spanish dramatist, novelist, and poet. His masterpiece is Canción de cuna (1911, tr. The Cradle Song, 1917), but...

Economic Community of West African States

(Encyclopedia)Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), organization established in 1975 to increase economic cooperation and development in West Africa. Members include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, C...

Colorado, rivers, United States and Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Colorado [1] kŏlərădˈə, –rădˈō, –räˈdō [2] kŏlərāˈdə, –räˈdə [key]. 1 Great river of the SW United States, 1,450 mi (2,334 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts. of N Colo., and f...

Zacatecas, state, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Zacatecas säkätāˈkäs [key], state (1990 pop. 1,276,329), 28,125 sq mi (72,844 sq km), N central Mexico. Zacatecas is the capital. Lying on the central plateau, Zacatecas is a state of semiarid pl...

Paiute

(Encyclopedia)Paiute pīo͞otˈ [key], two distinct groups of Native North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native A...

Taurus, mountain chain, Turkey

(Encyclopedia)Taurus tôrōsˈ [key], mountain chain, S Turkey, extending c.350 mi (560 km) roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast of S Asia Minor. It forms the southern border of the Anatolian plateau. Its no...

Mountain, the

(Encyclopedia)Mountain, the, in French history, the label applied to deputies sitting on the raised left benches in the National Convention during the French Revolution. Members of the faction, known as Montagnards...

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